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Louis C.K. Gets Into the Ticket-Selling Business

By Jason Zinoman June 26, 2012 2:46 pmJune 26, 2012 2:46 pm

At this point in his booming career, Louis C.K. could fill theaters by charging Broadway-style prices, and blame the high cost on scalpers and ticketing services. Instead, he has decided to try to reinvent another comedy business model.

On Monday, he announced that he would not use a ticketing service for his new tour and instead charge $45 for every ticket, with no added fees, through his own Web site, louisck.net. The tour begins in October and includes a five-day stint in New York at City Center starting Oct. 24.

The ticket plan is not the first time the comic has sought to upend an industry tradition. Last year, he bypassed Comedy Central and HBO and released a stand-up special on his Web site for only $5. Aziz Ansari and Jim Gaffigan have since done the same thing.

About the new plan, he wrote here, that the ticket price was less than what fans paid for his last tour. (Although in New York, he’s been known to pop in and take the stage at cheaper comedy outlets.)

The comedian cited the added fees and resellers’ markups as the reason he has troubling making his shows affordable. Music acts have tried experiments with ticketing but the efforts have not been large-scale and it’s difficult to find theaters without exclusive deals with ticketing services, a point the comedian made when he noted that he would be performing at sites he hadn’t visited before. “I really appreciate all of these theaters that are letting us give this a try,” he wrote on his site.

Of course, his success makes it easier to book this tour. “About a year ago, I reached a point where I realized I am making enough money doing comedy so the next thing that interested me is bringing your price down,” he added. “Either way, I still make a whole lot more than my grandfather who taught math and raised chickens in Michigan.”

A version of this article appears in print on 06/27/2012, on page C3 of the NewYork edition with the headline: Louis C. K. Tickets Without Those Fees.